How to Make a Sun Chart

This article was co-authored by Bess Ruff. Bess Ruff is a PhD student of Geography in Florida. She received her MA in Environmental Science and Management from Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UC Santa Barbara in 2016.

There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

Making a sun chart is a very important step to take before planting your first garden. It allows you to measure how much sunlight certain areas of your yard get each day.[1] This is important because plants and vegetables have specific requirements for the amount of sunlight and shade they need each day. Using a sun chart helps you diagram the sun and plant the right vegetables in your garden so they can thrive.

Gather the necessary materials. To make this type of sun chart, you will need a piece of paper, a pen/pencil, three different colored pencils/crayons/markers (red, yellow, and blue), and a leisurely day where you can make regular observations of your yard.

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Choose a sunny day for observation. In order to make the most accurate sun chart you can, you want to make your observations on a sunny day. The time of year is also an important factor. Your yard will have more overall sunlight during the summer than during the fall. For maximum sun exposure, choose a sunny, summer day.

You can repeat this sun chart exercise during the spring, fall, and winter if you want an idea of how much sun your garden gets throughout the year.[2]

Sketch a map of your yard. Draw a basic map of the area that you want to use for gardening. Include the relative locations of anything large enough to cast a shadow such as buildings, fences, and trees.[3] Scale is not important.

Mark out the basic area of where you want to plant your garden as well.

Record observations of the sun at 9:00 AM in yellow colored pencil. At 9:00 AM look out at your yard and draw yellow lines marking out the area of the yard that is currently getting sunlight. Sketch the lines with a small space in between.[4]

Record observations of the sun at 1:00 PM in blue colored pencil. Repeat your observations four hours later with a blue colored pencil. If the sun is still shining in the areas marked yellow from the morning observation, add blue to that area. Make blue lines in the areas where the sun has shifted to as well.[5]

Record observations of the sun at 5:00 PM in red colored pencil. The 5:00 PM recording will be your last observation. Using the red colored pencil, make lines that represent the sun for that time of day. If the sun is still in the areas already colored yellow and blue, simply add the red on top.[6]

The areas that have all three colors will get the most sun during the day and be best for planting seeds that require at least 6 hours of sunlight a day.

The areas with just two colors are best for plants that need partial shade and partial sunlight.

Areas with one or no color are best for plants that need mostly shade.[7]

If you want a more specific sun chart, you can take recordings every two hours instead of every four hours and use more colors to fill it in.

Gather the necessary materials. To make this type of a sun chart, you will need a piece of paper, a pen/pencil, and a free day to spend observing the sun in your proposed garden space. You’ll get the most accurate representation of the sun if you take hourly observations, but if you’re not able to do that, make as many observations throughout the day as your schedule allows.[8]

Choose a sunny day for observation. To make the most accurate sun chart, you’ll need a nice sunny day. Remember, there are varying amounts of sun depending on the time of year; summer has the most sun, while winter has the least. Try to make your sun chart on a sunny, summer day so you can get a good idea of the maximum amount of sun your garden will get.

You can make multiple sun charts for each season to know which plants to grow.

Divide your yard into regions. For this type of sun chart, you’ll want to divide your garden into separate regions and observe the sunlight in each one. You can split it up however you want. You don’t want the regions to be too large, as half of one may be in sunlight and half in shade.

Give your regions distinct names so you remember each one when taking sun observations: Back left corner, front right corner, middle left, etc.

Ask a landscape architect or garden store associate what size regions might make the most sense given the size of your yard.

Make a chart with the yard regions in rows and time in columns. Label each column with one hour of the day starting with sun-up and ending with sun-down. During the height of summer this will likely be from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM depending on your location. Label each row with the regions you divided the garden into.[9]

Observe the sun once an hour from dawn to dusk. Each hour, look at where the sun falls in each region of your garden and record it using “sun”, “partial”, “shade”, and “dappled”. “Sun” is when the region is in full sun; “partial” is some shade, some sun; “shade” is no sun; and “dappled” is sunlight through a tree, fence, or shrub.[10]

It’s okay if you aren’t able to make observations every hour, but try to take them as close to that as possible for the most accurate sun chart.

Track the sun until it sets.

Use this chart to inform you decisions on the type of seeds to plant and where to plant them.

Plant fruits, flowers, and vegetables according to their sun/shade needs. Once you’ve constructed your sun chart, you will have a good idea of what areas of your yard get exposed to light and for how long. This information is crucial in growing a vibrant, healthy garden.

Plants are categorized by their need for sunlight and usually sorted into three broad categories: full sunlight, partial sun/partial shade, full shade. Full sunlight means at least six hours of sun per day and full shade means less than three hours of sun.[11]

Plant according to the amount of sunlight an area gets from the observations made in your sun chart.

Move planters around to maximize sun exposure. Maybe there isn’t one location in your yard that gets enough sun to plant what you were hoping to plant. This can be remedied by planting in a small pot or planter and altering the location of the plant to get the sun it needs. This can be a tedious process, but will allow you to grow plants that need more or less sunlight than your yard can provide.

Note: As the plants grow, the planters will get heavier and be more difficult to move.

Keep the sun chart to inform future plantings. Hang on to your sun chart and use it as a reference the next time you want to do a round of plantings. You might also want to make separate sun charts for the different seasons and refer to those as well.

Keep the sun chart with your gardening tools or in the gardening shed if you have one.

About This Article

This article was co-authored by Bess Ruff. Bess Ruff is a PhD student of Geography in Florida. She received her MA in Environmental Science and Management from Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UC Santa Barbara in 2016.